Accused in Rodelas slay questions legality of arrest

One of the accused in the Julie Ann Rodelas murder case has asked a Quezon City court to junk the charges on the ground that he was illegally arrested in Pampanga province on November 10.

Fernando Quiambao Jr. argued that he was arrested without a warrant four days after the killing of 20-year-old Rodelas, a part-time model and television talent.

In an urgent motion before Judge Caridad Walse-Lutero of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 223, the accused said he was not arrested in flagrante delicto or in the act of committing a crime, thus the arresting policemen could not possibly have any personal knowledge of his involvement in the murder.

‘Patently illegal’

“The arrest of the accused is patently illegal, hence this court has no jurisdiction over the person of said accused,” the pleading stressed.

On Friday, the court gave the prosecution 10 days to answer the motion to quash the criminal information against Quiambao, who remained in detention at the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.

Quiambao and his girlfriend Althea Altamirano refused to enter a plea during their arraignment for murder on Monday, while their co-accused Jaymar Waradji pleaded not guilty.

The three are accused of orchestrating the abduction and murder of Rodelas, whose bullet-riddled body was dumped in Cubao in the morning of November 6.

Blood samples

The QCPD arrested Quiambao and Altamirano in Apalit, Pampanga, after establishing that Quiambao’s Misubishi Montero was the vehicle used in Rodelas’ abduction in Pasay City and her murder hours later in Quezon City.

Medico-legal experts have taken samples from the blood stains found in the vehicle.

But Quiambao’s motion countered that police could not use the confiscated Montero as evidence since the arrest was illegal.

In media interviews shortly after her arrest, Altamirano admitted that she held a grudge against Rodelas, her fellow model, for allegedly spreading rumors about Altamirano having two children.

She said she had agreed to Quiambao’s suggestion to teach Rodelas “a lesson” but never thought he would go the extent of killing the woman she supposedly considered a friend.